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Meme-y Monday: Prisoners treated better than the elderly?

“Here is some food for thought…We should place the elderly in prisons. They will get a shower a day, video surveillance in case of problems, three hot meals a day, access to a library, computer, TV, gym, doctor on-site, free medication if needed. We should put criminals in nursing homes. They have cold meals, lights off at 7pm, two showers a week, live in a smaller room and pay rent at $4,000 a month!!! It’s pretty sad that we treat prisoners better than the elderly.”

I’ve seen this quoted on facebook status who genuinely believe that prisoners are treated too well, and on facebook statuses of people who just think we need to treat seniors better. So I want to write about how this cannot possibly be just an advocacy for treating seniors better.

The message is a well crafted Republican/Conservative meme emphasizing the pet-peeves of the right wing – gym, computer access, medications, etc. Are the big concerns about senior citizen the lack of gyms and computers? Probably not, but that doesn’t matter because the focus of the meme isn’t on caring for seniors, it is about coddling prisoners. It doesn’t say “it’s sad that we treat the elderly worse than we treat prisoners” it says it the other way around.

The meme doesn’t site any specific locations. I’ve seen it posted by people in Canada as well as in the United states, despite the vast regional differences between prisons and care for the elderly so I did a quick google search for information about prisons in my province. I found a couple of interesting articles.

A September 2012 article about a London, Ontario facility describes problems with a lack of surveillance and the resulting problems with inmate violence. It describes problems with lack of telephone access resulting in problems communicating with the lawyers, and it tells of an Ontario judge reluctant to send first time offenders to prison for fear for their safety there. Hardly the luxury setting described in the meme.

A Calgary Herald article talks about overcrowding in Alberta and Ontario women’s prisons resulting in four women being kept in a visiting room: “the room has no running water, no toilet facilities and no built-in cell call alarm system, nor does it offer the amount of living space, privacy and dignity that is available in a purpose-built cell.”

The Committee was particularly disturbed by the complete lack of programs and services for the remand population. This is the case in all provincial correctional facilities as the Ministry of Community and Correctional Services’ policy is to concentrate all available program resources on sentenced prisoners. Remand prisoners have no access to the gymnasiums, the schools or the libraries in these institutions and cannot take advantage of any psychological/rehabilitative programming available to sentenced prisoners. For these prisoners, there is nothing to meaningful to do every day, all day long. At best, it amounts to warehousing, but, for those who spend long periods of time on remand, some for many months and even years, it could be characterized as cruel.

Half an hour of reading online doesn’t make me an expert on prison conditions and I don’t claim to be. What I do claim is that we need to be careful what facebook memes we pass on and we need to challenge the ones we see. We should ask ourselves where the meme applies to (Canada? The United States? Elsewhere?) and if the facts back the meme up. Most memes won’t present sources for their facts, and in some ways that becomes more insidious in implying that the idea is just common sense.

Sometimes causes like promoting the myth that prisoners are treated to lightly are mixed with other causes like the idea we need to treat our elders better, so people will pass them on because they agree with one side of the equation and they don’t think through the implications of the other side. This meme wasn’t really about the conditions of senior’s homes and it wasn’t real information about the conditions in prisons (or it would have mentioned which prisons its talking about). The meme was simply to reinforce the stereotypes that prisoners are treated to lenient – a stereotype with little to no basis in fact and that forgets that those in prison are also our brothers, neighbours, cousins, grandchildren, etc.

And none of this is to say that we shouldn’t be treating the eldery better than we do. But that’s another story and another post.

Well you looked up prisons in Canada, I don’t know anything about prisons in Canada, but obviously some people do post this knowing first hand experience that it is true. Yes, I have been to prison, yes my father is in an assisted living home, that’s what they call nursing homes these days. He pays a little over $1000 a month for rent and his insurance takes care of the rest, and that’s all out of his SSI check. for that $1000 plus a month, not including what the insurance pays for, he gets basic cable that’s so basic its almost free digital T.V. He has his own 8×8 room a couple he lived in the past, he shared a room for that price. Low rate internet, if it decides to work. no cameras in the facility, an old broke down hospital bed, meals worse than what they feed you in the army, or school food should I say, since by your tone you have obviously never served. Two nurses supposed to be in each wing at all times, with I don’t care attitudes, I report them all the time. A bath once a week. hair cut once a month, oh wait he has to pay extra for that. If his insurance didn’t cover the rest, he would be just lying there waiting to die. The funny thing is (sarcasm) This is one of the more higher end homes in the area, he was put on a waiting list and had to wait 3 years before we finally got him into that home, to come to find out it not so great. the nurses get him out of bed when they feel like it, if they get him out of bed that day, unless we request a specific time, and they have to put him back to bed by 4:30 pm.

Now, I have been to prison and I feel I got treated better than him. I got three hot meals a day, unlimited access to commissary, shower anytime I wanted the separated by stalls, bathroom anytime I wanted separated by stalls, yes I shared a room with 50 other inmates, but we played games anytime we wanted, and full blown cable, access to library and internet abled computers, and all the collect calls we wanted, and lights out was at 6pm and lights on was at 6 am. each block had its own exercise area that was accessible anytime. Guards in the cell block and guards right outside the block, and cameras everywhere. All I needed were women and It would have been great.

Yes I have heard and read about prisons in other countries that is basically survival of the fetus, kill or be killed kind of stuff. But this comment that everyone has been sharing, is not about Canadian or any other countries prisons, this post is about American prisons and American society, how it views the so called governmental system we have here. The views of how the American Society is so afraid of law suites that, they go as far to treat our prisoners like royalty, and how we treat our poor and middle class elderly like they are nobodies, just as if they are a dog waiting for them to just die. Todays society do not respect our elderly, this new generation is so disrespectful period, toward everything, the elderly, the American way of life, todays youth, if they continue to act as they are and as generations pass and get worse, America will no longer be America.

You should really check all of your facts before you post an article, not just get half the facts. All you posted was what the Canadian prisons were like, not the American. You assume that because Canadian prisons are like this, the American prison system is be the same, no, the American prison system has the most relaxed, kind, and compassionate prison system in the world. Canadian people post these because they agree with the way the American system is and support our disagreement for it, not because they believe the Canadian prisons are this way. So step out of your sheltered life, stop hiding in your house and walk around in the real world and just take a look around and see things the way they really are, not the way you see things on the internet. Good Day sir.

So your argument is that some people who post the meme do so because they have personal experience that backs it up? Great, but they should post about their experience, rather than just the general meme.

My point, which you seemed to have missed, is that people continue to post memes without thinking through the implications of them. You might argue that the meme is only about the USA but the meme itself doesn’t include reference to the USA and I’ve seen it shared by Canadians concerned about how elderly Canadians are treated.

I totally agree with ChristyK…it is one of my pet peeves that we are so gullible & accepting of info as published & circulated via email, like the one about prisons & elderly. I live in the US & am VERY aware of deplorable prison conditions & question what planet James lives on…notice that he makes no mention of a specific US prison in his account. Please see below three reliable sources about US prison conditions…hope prison conditions are better in Canada.

Christy, are you a convict writing this from prison? Prisons shouldn’t be treating their convicts with any sort of luxury or compassion. It’s not supposed to be a comfortable place. It’s supposed to be rehabilitation, IE you never want to go back and will never commit another crime. However, because of the high number of repeat offenders, you have to believe that prison isn’t that bad.

Are you not aware of the burden it costs to house a prisoner (murder, rapist, child rapist etc?) It is about $120K per year. Multiply that by 180,000 prisoners (600 per 100,000 general population) and you get a system that costs 18 billion dollars per year. Do you know how many social and wellness programs that can go towards?

If anything, these prisoners should be put into working conditions where they generate revenue. Instead of us sending our manufacturing to china, we should be paying our convicts at a discounted rate. The reasons why? 1) it rehabilitates them by not letting them go stir crazy
2) it gives them experience that can be used when they are released. The government can have direct transition programs into manufacturing plants.

This will absorb the cost if not generate more revenue for the country than it does. This in turn can create better health care systems, infrastructure, and an overall better economy with positive net results for the general public.

Why should we pay $600 a year to keep a criminal well fed and taken care of? Compassion? Tell that to the family who had their child raped and murdered. It’s not about vengeance. Its about earning your right to be treated under the constitution. People who commit crimes, especially violent ones, should not have the same rights that we free people have. When they killed that person, they took away their rights, in kind, they should be happy they didn’t get capital punishment.

The other thing is, most violent criminals cannot be rehabilitated due to the different wiring of their brain, where they lack a moral compass and would not hesitate to rape or kill you.

The bottom line is, prisons should not be costing canada or any state money. Prisoners should not be treated better than the average canadian in terms of health care, food, and housing.

If you want a solution, divide the prison system into tiers. The non-violent criminals act as guards over the violent ones and get their own cell block.
The violent ones i.e murderers, rapists, etc are housed all in the same room on the floor. Use the prisoners as a manufacturing plant for discounted products, where they get paid minimally, at the same rate as they do in china. Once you do that, you’ll have a functioning prison that doesn’t cost money to the system. You’ll have people actually rehabilitated because prison will be a place they don’t want to come back to.

lastly, your article is garbage and sounds like one of those leftist idiots who fights for compassion for those who don’t have it, without ever losing something to these animals in prison. Its kind of like a white person in the 1800’s telling a black person it aint so bad.

While I agree with the premise of your article and appreciate some of your sentiments (since my husband IS in prison so I know full well the conditions), your assumption that this meme is a well crafted Republican/Conservative message is a bunch of hogwash. Please site your resource. From my perspective it seems just another a bleeding heart liberal cry for social reform to get the government to handout more freebies and this time to the elderly. The last time someone posted this meme, this was my response based on current personal knowledge: “In prison, they’ll be yelled at for no reason, humiliated just for the sake of it, in danger from thugs everyday, not allowed to see loved ones except through a video screen or sitting at a table for a couple of hours once a week, not allowed to get anything in the mail but letters if anyone cares to send them, and forcibly isolated for several hours. They can’t have decorations in their shared cinderblock cells, have no access to the internet or music, and must watch whatever TV program the prevailing group (usually the thugs) want to watch. They are constantly subjected to foul language, sarcasm, and disgusting humor. Their mattress will be paper thin and urine stained. They will be allowed one blanket and one pillow. Their one tiny window will be just a sliver. There will be no quiet at night as other inmates like to stay up and yell. They will have to share a smelly bathroom with 20 other inmates, and they will have no social interaction with anyone of the opposite gender. If they do have medical issues, they must wait at least a week, if not longer, to be bused to see a medial professional at some other facility who could care less and who will do the absolute minimum to get them by. Yeah, prison is where I want MY grandma! NOT.”